"These 14 new tests will provide blood establishments and transfusion services with additional choices to help assure safe, well-matched transfusions," Dr. Jesse L. Goodman, director of the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said in a prepared statement. "The tests offer a broader diversity of reliable blood-typing tests and will help protect against product shortages."

The Olympus PK System Blood Group and Phenotyping Reagents use monoclonal antibodies to test for the A, B, O and Rh factors, as well as for other factors that signify rarer blood types.